“We’d tax the bankers” has become the familiar refrain of Labour Party activists and councillors across the country, but it is still a surprise to see just how many of their policies are now being funded by this single commitment!
Someone’s done the maths and have found that the same bankers’ levy has been now been proposed to fund eleven different projects. Put another way, the Labour Party are now using a single £2.5 billion revenue payment to underwrite £30 billion of different promises to the electorate! So much for rebuilding their reputation for economic competence…
Funny as it is, there is also a serious point in here that we need to challenge Labour every time they stand up in council, in the letters pages or at meetings declaring that yet another policy is going to be paid for through a ‘banker’s tax’, etc., etc. Using these examples gives us a great chance to show Labour’s economic message for the nonsense it is, and with a touch of humour to boot!
Remember:
Labour have now promised to spend a bankers’ levy on eleven different policies
The levy will raise only £2.5 billion (and Alistair Darling admitted it could only be a “one-off”), but Labour have already used it to promise over £30 billion in spending commitments!
Spending one single tax, ten times over, on eleven different promises – and they want to be taken seriously?
Labour’s Never-Ending Gobstopper!
According to the Labour Party, a one-off £2.5 billion tax levy is going to pay for:
1) Youth Jobs Guarantee – £1.04 billion
2) Reversing the VAT increase – £12.75 billion
3) More capital spending – £5.8 billion
4) Reversing the Child Benefit savings – £3.1 billion
5) Reversing Tax Credit savings – £5.8 billion
6) More Regional Growth Fund funding – £200 million
7) Cutting the deficit – ? [cannot be costed]
8) Turning empty shops into community centres – £5 million
9) Spending on public services – ? [cannot be costed]
10) More housing – £1.2 billion
11) Childcare – £800 million
Total: At least £30.695 billion and counting!